A Match of Wills
A Match of Wills is a title in the Ghostwriter book series, featuring Jamal Jenkins. Other team members appearing are Lenni, Alex, Gaby and Tina. Synopsis Jamal and the rest of the Ghostwriter team figure out where a late woman named Bethany Franklin left her fortune. Summary At the community center, Jamal has finished a video game, earning a high score. He then sees Alex playing a chess with a woman named Bethany Franklin, who is quite a good player and the newest member of the chess club, while Gaby cheers him on. Alex ends up losing the game, but congratulates his opponent on the win. Bethany commends Jamal on realizing what move she would make after Alex had captured her queen. She tells Jamal that she has one last puzzle for him, but she is not going to give him to puzzle then. She then tells him that she has a plan. Six months later, after playing basketball with Momo, his grandmother tells him that he had received official mail. Jamal opens the letter to discover that Bethany has died, and has left him her inheritance. He is quite excited, and dreams of being rich and sharing the inheritance with his friends. He later goes to Bethany’s lawyer, Jason Kohegan for the inheritance. There, he discovers that her son, Edward, is quite angry that she did not leave any money to him. The lawyer gives Jamal Bethany’s prized chess set, as well as a letter with another puzzle on it. Jamal is quite disappointed, and even Edward laughs. The team knows that Bethany has hidden her money somewhere, and set out to discover where. They find out where Bethany used to live. After they arrive there, though, they discover that Edward was already there and that the apartment had been messed up. In a book of chess problems, they find that a page is bookmarked, and is similar to the drawing of a chess game in the letter that Jamal had been sent. They think that the words “Your checkmate in three” from the letter may be an anagram, and eventually come up with “You make the center rich”. They realize that Bethany wants them to give her money to the community center. Alex finds out from Janet Williams, who had taken a creative writing class with Bethany at the community center, that Bethany was interested in the Revolutionary War. Later that day, Alex and Lenni get a lot of books from the library, much to the latter’s chagrin. Jamal goes into the center to see Alex win a game of chess. Alex is going to represent the center in the tournament the next day. He leaves Bethany’s chess set there, since he really does not like the game very much. Gaby finds out from the center’s director, Mrs. Ward, that Bethany wanted to give her money to the center so that it would not have to be only open half the week. That night, Edward tries to buy the chess set from Jamal, with increases prices, but he refuses. He figures that the money is hidden in one of the chess pieces, but when he goes back to the center, the pieces are missing. During the tournament, the team looks at several of the pieces, but come up with nothing. Edward, another participant in the tournament, finds a blank piece of paper in the black rook. He furiously throws it to the ground and forfeits his match. The team later realizes that the underlined words in Bethany’s letter to Jamal may be important. Gaby and Tina look at Bethany’s stove, which was put in a junk dealer, but come up with nothing. The team eventually finds out that Bethany had stressed words relating to Benjamin Franklin. They figure that the signature in the letter is actually one done by Benjamin Franklin. However, when an autograph collector looks at it, he states that it is a forgery. They then realize that they had accidently given the collector a copy that they had created for safety, and look for the other duplicates to find the original. Finding that Jamal’s is the only left, they see that Edward has come into the house, and then Bethany’s lawyer as well. Both want the letter, and wind up accidently tearing it in two. Later, Gaby discovers that her mother has put her copy on the kitchen table instead of shredding it, as they had thought. The team takes it to the autograph collector, who states that it is an original. The community center is given the money. Jamal and the rest of the team are given one hundred dollars as a reward. Gallery A Match of Wills- Chess game.png|Jamal watches Alex and Bethany play chess A Match of Wills- Daydream of Money.png|Jamal daydreaming of inheriting lots of money A Match of Wills- Messy Apartment.png|Edward has messed up Bethany's apartment A Match of Wills- Janitor.png|Finding out they were only scared of a janitor A Match of Wills- Edward Angry.png|Edward thinks the piece of paper in the chess piece is worthless A Match of Wills- Stove.png|Gaby and Tina look at Bethany's stove A Match of Wills- Tearing the Document.png|Edward and the lawyer tear a copy of the letter A Match of Wills- One Hundred Dollars.png| Jamal holds one hundred dollars Category:Books